Recent Water Damage Posts

Away on Vacay: Preventing Water Damage

Lots of things can go wrong in your home while you’re on vacation, most commonly leaks and water damage. Read our steps below to learn how to help prevent and reduce the risk of water damage when you’re away:

Check for Leaks

Before you leave on vacation, be sure to check around your house for any leaks. Pipes under sinks, your water heater, anything resembling rust, cracks, or other damage. It’s important to check the seals around your windows and the exterior of your home as well. If you find any leakage, be sure to fix it right away so everything can be repaired and in good condition before you leave.

Inspect Appliances

Important appliances such as your dishwasher, washer/dryer, and refrigerator are all connected to your home by hoses. If these hoses are damaged in any way, they can cause major water damage to your home. Inspect your appliances and, if needed, replace their hoses prior to leaving on vacation.

Clean Your Gutters

Cleaning leaves and other debris out from your gutters before taking a vacation is an easy way to prevent potential blockage and build up. To learn more about the advantages of clean gutters, click here.

Turn Off the Water

Whenever you leave your home for an extended period of time, it’s important to turn off the water main and make sure the pipes are completely drained. This will stop any water from continually leaking in your home while you’re away. Simply run the water and flush your toilet after you turn off the water.

Have Someone Check on Your Home

Coordinate to have someone come over and check on your home while you’re away. Having a friend, neighbor, or family member keep an eye on your property can help keep it in good shape, and they can notify you immediately if something goes wrong.

With these tips, you can truly enjoy your vacation with the peace of mind that your home is safe from any potential water damage that could occur in your absence. If your home does suffer from water damage, call our team at SERVPRO of Bay County. We can help remove, repair, and restore any damage to your home.

Tips For Keeping Your Water Bill Low

We’ve talked a lot about how to prevent and reduce the risk of water damage in your home, but what about reducing the cost of water in your home?

Here are a few tips from our team of experts here at SERVPRO of Bay County that will help you keep your water bill lower while helping your home and the environment in the process:

1. First and foremost, it’s important to identify and then fix any water leaks you may have. Not only can leaks potentially drain thousands of gallons worth of water, they can lead to major water damage problems for your home. Check faucets, drains, and plumbing around the house to look and listen for any signs that could indicate a leak. If you find one, get it fixed right away!

2. Use your dishwasher! That’s right – running a full load of dishes in the dishwasher is actually a much more efficient use of water than washing dishes individually by hand. The key here though is running a full load, that’s how you’ll get the most out of your water usage.

3. Take shorter showers, or switch to a low-flow shower head. Reducing your shower time by even a couple of minutes makes big cuts in the amount of water you use from month to month. As an alternative, low-flow shower heads use 2.5 gallons per minute, which according to the US Department of Energy could end up reducing you water bill by 25-60 %, saving you a significant amount of money in utility bills.

4. Insulate your water pipes. One trip to the hardware store for some foam insulation cut in the shape of a pipe and your half-way there! Taping insulation to your water pipes will help them heat up water faster, which in turn means less time running water from your sink or shower waiting for it to warm up.

5. Limit your use of the garbage disposal in your kitchen sink. Instead, scrape whatever excess food that’s on your dishes into the trash, then place them in the dishwasher – remember? We want a full load! Disposals use a lot of water to flush things down the drain, so reducing its use will reduce the amount of water you’re using in your kitchen.

With these tips to get you started, you should start seeing a drop in your water utility bill in no time. By being mindful of your water usage and aware of the condition your pipes, faucets, and appliances are in, you can help prevent any costly water leaks or damaging water spills.

SERVPRO TO THE RESCUE!

Water, is a source of life and refreshment, but can also be devastating! We all need water to survive and in fact our bodies are made of mostly water, but when water is present in the wrong circumstances it can mean loss of life or property. SERVPRO of Bay County deals with the later on a daily basis.

During a recent excessive rain event in our area our team was called into action. Now, our normal M.O. is to kick into action, but this rain event put us into high gear! Everyone on the SERVPRO team was on high alert and ready to help our community with this soaking. I might add that at the start of this weather alert we were also called out to a very large sewage loss, which only added to the stress of the situation.

Calls were pouring in and the team was at capacity, and that is when something wonderful happened! The team, with the direction of our fearless leader, dug deep and made it happen. Everyone was filled with the true spirit of teamwork!! Office staff were now field staff, field staff were happily working over-time and what we like to call the “Green Dream Team” was taking it all in stride. We even received a little help from one of our fellow SERVPRO families in Macon GA. We were taking care of our customers and in the end, that’s what is important to our team!

Today, it's still wet outside, but rest assured that our team is out there helping our community get dry and keeping water in the best place possible, their glass!

Supply lines can cause major disasters

Supply lines can cause disasters for not only you but also your neighbors. SERVPRO of Bay County recently cleaned up a water damage caused from a leaking supply line. The home is a multi unit vacation condominium. Often such properties are left vacant for long periods of time such as in this case. Property management suspects the water leak went undetected for one week. In that amount of time 5 units total were damaged.

We are often asked what causes supply lines to leak. Multiple causes have been suspect. A hairline crack in the plastic tubing, fittings are tightened to tight just to name a few.

An easy method of prevention is to simply turn off the supply when leaving for long periods of time.

SERVPRO of Bay County stands ready 24/7 to respond to your disaster whether it be caused by water, fire, mold or vandalism. Call us today 850-785-1077